Best and worst entertainment-related gifts

I’m going to seriously geek out for a minute here, so please bear with me. For my birthday this year, I got a gift from a friend who was determined to get me something a little unusual, while indulging me my passion for British sci-fi TV programs. Specifically, the original BBC Dr. Who series that aired from 1963 to 1989 (though I have to admit that the new series, currently starring David Tennant as the Doctor, is worth geeking out over too).

Anyway, said unusual gift arrived via messenger in a big box marked “fragile.” I opened it, and among a blitzkrieg of packing fluff was the neatest thing I’d ever seen — a giant porcelain Dalek cookie jar.

Oh my yes. It’s got really nifty-looking gold-colored knobs all over it and a telescoping robotic manipulator rod, and the head twists off and everything. (It doesn’t scream “EX-TER-MI-NATE!!!” when I walk by in the morning to make coffee in the kitchen, but hey, nobody’s perfect). And no worries — nothing so messy as a COOKIE is ever going to crumble and muck up the innards of The Coolest Thing I Own.

But my friends don’t get it. At best, they dubiously eye myliving-room mantle where the Dalek occupies a place of distinction,having recently displaced a photo of my grandmother. I can almost hearwhat they are thinking: How much could I get for this totally weird thing on eBay?

How about you, PopWatchers? Have you ever gotten anentertainment-related gift that blew your gourd but left your friendskinda baffled? Or how about the worst pop culture gift you’ve ever received? Now is your time to ‘fess!